This is a blog about the people, processes, thoughts, and opinions about technology from Autodesk.

September 27, 2012

Autodesk One Market Office: A Window to the Past

"They say dreams are the windows of the soul — take a peek and you can see the inner workings, the nuts and bolts."Henry Brommel

Though Autodesk has offices worldwide, I work at our office at One Market in San Francisco. I currently work on the second floor, which happens to also be the location of the Autodesk Gallery, but in the past, I have also worked on the fifth and fourth floors. Recently as part of expanding our space in San Francisco, we leased space on the fourth floor of an adjacent building. To make it easier for employees in the two buildings to collaborate, a portal to connect the two fourth-floors was constructed.

Imagine our surprise when the construction team unearthed a window that was not supposed to be there. According to the architectural drawings, this window did not exist.

We felt that this architectural detail provided a window into the past. Rather than replace the window, we covered it with a blast-proof pane of glass that meets current fire codes.

On close inspection, we could see that the window was affixed with metal plates as a sign of pride in its craftsmanship.

They were painted over long ago, but the two metal plates read:

FIREPROOF WINDOWMADE BY FOREVER CORNICE WKSSAN FRANCISCO

UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIESFIRE WINDOW BRAKE7074

Our building was originally a railway station. It is unfortunate that we had out of date plans. Over the years, our building has undergone many renovations - some specifically for earthquake retrofitting. If only the building owner had one set of plans that could have been shared and evolved as the changes were made? Had it been around way back when, perhaps Autodesk 360 could have played a part? The window is indeed from the past but is a reflection of design management in the present and future.

Comments

Autodesk One Market Office: A Window to the Past

"They say dreams are the windows of the soul — take a peek and you can see the inner workings, the nuts and bolts."Henry Brommel

Though Autodesk has offices worldwide, I work at our office at One Market in San Francisco. I currently work on the second floor, which happens to also be the location of the Autodesk Gallery, but in the past, I have also worked on the fifth and fourth floors. Recently as part of expanding our space in San Francisco, we leased space on the fourth floor of an adjacent building. To make it easier for employees in the two buildings to collaborate, a portal to connect the two fourth-floors was constructed.

Imagine our surprise when the construction team unearthed a window that was not supposed to be there. According to the architectural drawings, this window did not exist.

We felt that this architectural detail provided a window into the past. Rather than replace the window, we covered it with a blast-proof pane of glass that meets current fire codes.

On close inspection, we could see that the window was affixed with metal plates as a sign of pride in its craftsmanship.

They were painted over long ago, but the two metal plates read:

FIREPROOF WINDOWMADE BY FOREVER CORNICE WKSSAN FRANCISCO

UNDERWRITERS LABORATORIESFIRE WINDOW BRAKE7074

Our building was originally a railway station. It is unfortunate that we had out of date plans. Over the years, our building has undergone many renovations - some specifically for earthquake retrofitting. If only the building owner had one set of plans that could have been shared and evolved as the changes were made? Had it been around way back when, perhaps Autodesk 360 could have played a part? The window is indeed from the past but is a reflection of design management in the present and future.